CHAPTER VI.
ETHNOGRAPHY OF EASTERN AFRICA TO THE NORTHWARD OF
THE EQUATOR----ABYSSINIAN NATIONS..,
S e c t io n I.——Outline of the Physical Geography of
Abyssinia.
r m General description.
I h a v e observed that an elevated region containing the
sources of the Niger and the Senegal extends in the western
part of Africa to the northward of that line which traversés the
continent from east to west, and separates the mountainous
wilderness of the centre from the level countries of Sahara
and Sudan. A similar phenomenon displays itself in the
eastern side of the same continent : around the source of the
great eastern branch of the Nile, a high country, which has
been compared by Humboldt to the lofty plain of Quito, advances
many degrees to the northward of the same traversing
chain. Abyssinia, according to Tellez, is„ called by its inhabitants
“ Alberegranf or the Lofty Plain, by which epithet
they contrast it with the low countries surrounding it on almost
every side. It is compared by the Abyssins to the flower
of the “ denguelet,” which displays a magnificent corolla, en^
vironed by thorns, an allusion to the many barbarous tribes
who inhabit the circumjacent rallies and low plains. To the
southward of the country thus described, the high plain of
Narea, or Enarea, reaches still further in the same direction,
and serves like a stem to connect Habesh itself with the still
more lofty mountains of Kaffa, and the great elevated region
of Central Africa. The high country, continuous with the
plains of Narea, reaches, according to the information obtained
by Teller and by Brown, nearly seven degrees in
breadth, from the sources of the Bahr-el-Abiad to those of
the river Zebi, supposed to he the original stream of the Qui-
limance, a river flowing southward into the Indian Ocean.
On the northern border of Narea is Gonea, the residence
of the bonero'" ÖF sultan. On the lofty mountains of Kaffa,
the native country of the Coffee-tree; -snow is* said to
lie; the inhabitants; according'to Mr. Brffce, are fairer in
complexion than the natives1 of-Sicily and Naples. “ The
kingdom of Narea',’? says Mr. Bruce? ^stands like a fortified
ptaee in the midst of a plain. The pêdple of Narea, as
well as those of Kaffa, are Christians: • they • arh^Surrounded
on every side by hordes of Galla and Other pagan savaged,
who wage against them perpetual conflicts. The highlands
of Abyssinia, properly so termed, reach from'Hhe southern
‘ provinces of Shoa or Efat which are not far distant from
Enarea under the ninth degree;; %>' Tscherkin and Wal-
dubba under the fifteenth of norifrêrh?1 latituM, where they
make a sudden and often precipitous descent ijfto^the low
forests occupied by Shangalla Negroes?, Fronr east to west
they extend over nine degrees of longitude.; Risihg/at the
steep border or - terrass of Taranta from the, low, tract .along
the Arabian Gulf, they reach , tó the mountains of Fazoclo,
Dyre and Touggoula, which, overhang the low, sandy deserts
pf Sennaarand the valleys of Kordofan.#
By a minute and-elaborate analysis-pf the information
gained by Tellez and other.Jesuits, and by MM. Bruce and
Balt, Professor Ritter has shown that the high country of
Habesh consists of three terrasses, or distinct table-lands,
which rise one above another, and of which the several grades
or ascents offer themselves in succession to the trayellcrjwho
advances from the shore of the Red Sea.
*[[ 2. Is# Level. Plain of the Baharnegash.
: After traversing the low and arid plain, of Samhara, inhabited
by the black Dan&kil and Dumboëta, .the traveller
ascend s the heights . of Taranta and enters. uponj the . first of
these terrasses, which is the country of the ;BaharhegasJi,; the
negush or sultan of the maritime part, of Habesh,.: Here ^thh
aspect of nature is observed to change. The acacias and mi*'
* Ritter, Erdkunde, 1 Theil. & 168. 3i‘. Abschnitt, Nordrand von HochafHka
auf der Ostseite.
VOL. II. K